Return to Havensworth
by oldmule
Summary: Post 9.4 angst.
1. Chapter 1

**Post 9.4. Disclaimers and all that.**

"Why did it bloody well have to be here!" She thought.

Things had been awkward enough between them recently without a rerun in both their heads of what, or more importantly, could, have happened here.

Another conference, this time world affairs, climate change, power supplies and China and Russia holding court. The faces changed but the politics stayed the same and their baby sitting duties were again requested. G8 it wasn't, but not far off.

Harry's driver turned up the incredibly long and beautiful driveway to the Havensworth estate. "Why did it bloody well have to be here", he muttered to himself, grumpily.

* * *

The team were embedded in their makeshift operations room. Tariq had woven his magic and everything was as he would have it on the grid. There was nowhere he could not see, had he wished to.

Ruth sat, knowing Harry would arrive shortly and wondering quite which Harry it would be. Would it be the emotionally charged Harry of Ros's funeral; or the hard, cold, Harry that wanted to put her in her place and punish her for saying no; or, even the slightly repentant, trying too hard Harry of recent days?

"Morning. All as it should be?" This to Lucas as he walked in, barely a glance at her. So be it, the cold shouldered Harry. Well, that probably made it easier not to re live that moment in the corridor, that edge of the precipice moment she should not be thinking about but was.

* * *

The day passed quickly. There was much to do and the members of the delegations were arriving constantly. Ruth had suggested, actually insisted, that she cover the evening shift. She had work and she wanted to avoid Harry. Beth would be in and out, but relatively speaking it would hopefully be quiet. She settled to absorb a file before her.

Lucas came in on the phone and headed to one of the terminals handing Ruth a file. " Do me a favour and give this to Harry, he needs it straight away. Room 23."

"Of course." How calm she sounded, even to her own ears. In her head her response was a little less Cheltenham and a little more football terrace. So much for trying to avoid him.

She headed down the corridor. She passed her room. Walked on, not far enough, it felt and looked at the door of room 23. 'Why the bloody hell did his room have to be here?"

She was dreading the look on his face as he opened the door. She dreaded the look of hope that might come, or the hardened, angry look, or worst of all, the ambivalent look.

"Ruth". It was a look of surprise, it was fleeting and then the clouds moved across his face and the sun went in.

"Lucas said you needed this." She offered up the file, keen he should not think this visit was about anything more. She looked him only briefly in the eye, hurt by the effect she was having on him and slightly distracted by his loosely fastened shirt where her gaze then settled. He said nothing.

She glanced up, intending to just nod and go but the look caught her. His face, the same face, the same intensity, that same look that had held her in the corridor late at night half a world ago and yet made her flee the scene, such was the need for her in that look. This time is was him that recognised it in himself and him that ran from the moment.

"Thanks" he turned and closed the door.

"What's wrong with you." He chastised himself. "Let it go. Let her go".

The phone rang and he pulled himself away from thoughts of her and back to his reality.

"Harry, it's Lucas. Could you do something for me?"

Ruth lingered only for a moment on the other side of the door but for long enough to admit to herself that every feeling she had had back then she still had now. She turned and headed to the Ops room.

* * *

It was around 10pm that she looked up at the monitor and saw him enter the bar. This time she did not lift the phone to ring him. Late night conversations were not a good idea, he'd said as much. She tried not to watch him and think about how solitary he looked, how attractive he looked in his black tie outfit from the evening's reception. He glanced around and she could see him sigh as he pulled at his collar and the black tie fell loose. She turned back to her work.

Ten minutes had passed, ten minutes in which she'd stared anywhere but at him, it was a kind of challenge to herself, not to look. She failed. He was still there but not alone.

* * *

She was with the Italian delegation, very attractive, with a carefree smile and bright expressive eyes. In that sense she reminded him of Ruth, well she reminded him of the old Ruth, not the one that had returned to him and who's light he had extinguished as she watched George die, as she'd called him 'a heartless bastard'.

"Can I get you a drink?" "Thank you, yes, vodka tonic" She smiled.

Ruth had no audio. She didn't need it. They were now deep in conversation. She was very tactile, she stood quite close to Harry and threw her head back when she laughed. She had a long slender neck.

What was it he'd said? "We have to move on from this."

Ruth knew what it was like to feel tension and dread, it was part of life on the grid, part of her life around Harry, but most of that tension usually came with a surge of adrenaline. Tonight there was no adrenaline. Tonight she saw a smiling, charming Harry. Tonight she saw him moving on.

* * *

It was eleven thirty. Beth came in to take over for the night. "Anything?"

"No, all quiet" replied Ruth. The monitors showed the delegates still around various dining tables and in the bar there were three members of the Russian contingent starting their work on a bottle of vodka. No Harry.

"Oh, Ruth before you go could you just look at this for me?"

"No problem."

Ruth stood outside the Ops door. She did not know what to do. She did not know where to go. She had read and analysed Beth's information and now what, to go to bed?

She made it to her bedroom door, hesitated and looked down the corridor. Room 23. She felt sick.

It had been relatively easy to turn him down. It had been such the wrong moment, it had been so unexpected, such a big leap in their relationship that, let's face it, wasn't even a relationship. It had come from a sense of fear, of loneliness, of mortality. She didn't want that. She wanted to live. Now here she stood, embedded in the same old nonlife, whilst Harry 'moved on'. And that was what gripped her most, what ate at her. She had never for a moment thought of him ever been with anyone else. He was ever there, ever hers and he always would be, that's what she had thought, that's what she had expected of him.

Beth was bored. She flicked through the monitors, entertained only mildly and briefly by some drunken fumblings on a bench outside the hotel. "Bloody hell, they're brave, it's freezing out there." She thought.

Flicking on, she stopped again, there was Ruth, what was she doing? She was seemingly frozen in her room doorway, neither in, nor out. Her attention was elsewhere down the corridor, but there was nothing and nobody there. Beth watched on.

Ruth had decided. She needed to talk to him. She needed to do more than that, they'd talked enough. She needed to look him in the eye and tell him that she didn't want to marry him but she did have an overwhelming desire to kiss him. Easy. Just say it. Blurt it out, without thinking, without over analysing it, without falling over her words or garbling on in some inane manner.

She reached the door of room 23, took a steadying breath and reached her hand up to knock.

Beth smiled but only for a moment. There was something wrong.

* * *

Ruth hurried back down the corridor and fled into the safety of her room. She sat heavily on the bed. Her eyes found and fixed upon on a pattern on the wallpaper, they did not move, they did not blink. The pattern became more and more blurred. When had she last cried like this? She felt like she was looking down on herself, rationally watching someone's heart breaking.

If Five were like a puppet master, dictating the moves of those around them, then she wondered who was controlling her. Who was pulling her strings? Who would be vindictive enough to put her back in this place, to make her recognise that she and Harry could be 'more together', that she needed them to be 'more together'. Who would do that and then, in the moment she had built the courage that had been missing for what, years, would let her stand, hand poised to knock and then hear the soft moans coming through the door?

She could not block out the woman's voice, the pleasure in the voice, the lust in the voice and she certainly couldn't block out the deep moan of release from the man in the room.

* * *

Harry was tired. He looked across the hall at Ruth's door. All seemed dark and quiet. He turned away. His room was tidy, the bed turned down and the small case had been left standing at the foot of the bed. The room was smaller than the other but if Lucas felt it more secure then fine, it didn't matter, nothing actually seemed to matter anymore.

**There is more to come, when I have time.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Morning, Ruth." The briefest of nods was all he got in reply. Most unlike her, thought Lucas.

Harry was similarly grouchy. They'd shared a table at breakfast but Lucas had found him unusually hard work, not so much in a bad mood as slightly absent, his head elsewhere. He didn't have to be much of a Spook to suspect that the two moods may well be connected.

Harry followed him in. "Ruth, have you got that intel on the Chinese?"

"I'm doing it!"

The ops room cringed en masse, they hadn't all been in section D that long but noone had ever heard her speak in such a harsh, curt tone and especially never so to Harry. The air hung heavy waiting his response.

"Well, good. Then do it quicker." His voice was low but fierce.

She got up and left the room, "I need a file".

The rest put their heads down and pretended to do something crucial to National Security. Beth couldn't. "Harry, she's really upset about something. She won't talk to me. You have to speak to her."

Harry looked at her and said nothing. Eventually, "there's nothing I can say to her, Beth. Don't ask me again."

He left the room and uncannily Ruth soon returned. Her head and eyes stayed either lowered to the floor, her file or her monitor. She regretted what she's said and yet she had a headful of things she wanted to say to him, snap at him, scream at him. She'd looked at him and seen only the woman in the bar, touching his arm; she'd heard him and heard only the sounds coming from his room. She closed her eyes and fought the desire to sob.

He didn't know what to do. Harry Pearce did not have any idea of what to do. It was an uncomfortable feeling, he didn't like it.

The longing for her was so often with him he had learnt to live with it, in fact he was reassured by it, for it meant he was alive, he could feel. But now the burden felt too heavy.

If someone had told him that she would have come back from exile and they would be together again, he couldn't have found the words to express the relief of the heaviness that would have left his chest.

That she would come back with a family, having clearly moved on from her feelings for him, whatever those unsaid feelings ever were, he still wasn't sure. That he would feel the responsibility of helping destroy her family. He knew it was a guilt which he shouldn't feel, after all, he hadn't pulled the trigger. But he had wanted her back, envied them, felt happy at the chance of her staying and maybe that was as good as pulling the trigger.

And then that proposal. He cursed himself, 'hardly the epitome of romance, a bloody funeral, Harry, what did you expect?' He cursed the hardest words he'd ever had to hear, the acknowledgement that if he'd asked on a thousand other occasions if would always have been yes. He cursed himself for missing those thousand occasions and he cursed her for saying no. He cursed the fact he couldn't concentrate, that he didn't really care anymore, that he was left with no hope. "We can't be more together than we are now" That hadn't lasted, now they could barely say two words to each other.

He walked back into the hotel and practically ran into her by reception.

"Ruth." He didn't know what he wanted to say.

"Not now, Harry" still the chilling wind that bore the words.

She walked away.

"Ruth" and now he did know what he wanted to say. She turned reluctantly.

"Ironic, isn't it?" She looked. "We couldn't be more apart than we are right now"

He laughed bitterly, turned on his heel and left.

She watched his back. She wanted to cry but all that came to her mind was "Heartless bastard."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The protesters were at bay, the threat level was significantly less than they'd expected. The delegations were all playing nice and for once all was quiet. Why it had to be like that today she had no idea. Danger and mayhem would have been a welcome distraction. Still, at least she'd had to have no more contact with Harry since their meeting by reception.

* * *

It was too quiet. He had nothing to do but babysit politicians and diplomats. They could look after themselves, he decided. He was going to the bar.

He regretted what he'd said to her but he still didn't know quite what he'd done that had so upset her. The only times he's seen her were last night when she delivered the file to his room, which was awkward, but not unusually so, for them. Perhaps it was that she had caught him looking her, could hear him warring with himself, fighting the desire to just kiss her and damn the consequences. Ruth was capable of many things, maybe she was a mindreader now.

God help him.

The only other time he'd seen her today, before she snapped at him infront of the whole team, was as she left the restaurant earlier in the morning. He'd just come down and Lucas caught him mid yawn.

"Late night?" Lucas had asked.

"No, just didn't get much sleep."

He'd heard the plate drop, looked round and saw Ruth nearby attempting to pick it up. It reminded him of her first day and he couldn't help but smile. He had caught her eye only for a second then she had looked away and studiously avoided him, she'd left still holding the broken bits of crockery.

He still couldn't see it.

"Another malt" The barman nodded understandingly.

* * *

"Ruth, there's nothing much happening, if you want to go and …" Lucas tailed off, he couldn't actually think of what Ruth might go and do. "You know, read, go for a walk, or something".

He was right to hesitate, she had nothing to do, , nothing but feel sorry for herself and curse Harry. However she did sense that they would probably all feel a lot happier if her black mood was no longer casting a long shadow across the Ops room.

"Ok". She walked, eyes cast down out of the room.

"I can't take much more of this, what's got in to them today?" Dimitri was only vaguely aware as to the finer feelings between them.

"Harry loves Ruth, Ruth loves Harry. Nothing ever happens." Tariq's assessment was a good one.

"Something happened last night" said Beth and they all turned to look at her.

"Not that, not… whatever you're all thinking". They looked disappointed. "Actually, to say something happened is a bit of an exaggeration, it was that something didn't happen"

"Well, that sounds much more like them" said Lucas.

"So what was it that didn't happen?" Dimitri prompted Beth.

"I was watching her, she was really distracted. Anyway eventually she went to Harry's room and made to knock but then she froze, looked really upset and ran off back to her room."

"God, they're worse than teenagers" Lucas laughed but from fondness.

They all pondered.

"What time was it? Asked Tariq

"Eleven thirty ish"

"Which room?"

"Harry's room. 23."

Tariq and Lucas looked at each other. "Harry's old room" said Tariq.

"What?" She was confused.

"Did I not put it on the briefing notes this morning?" Asked Lucas to a quizzical Beth and Dimitri. They shook their heads.

"Sorry, obviously run off my feet! I had some concerns over Harry's security, there were issues with sight lines into the grounds. I asked him to change rooms last night."

Tariq smiled. "So Ruth finally got up the courage to go to Harry and even if she hadn't chickened out, she would have been knocking on the wrong door."

"They are a hopeless case, it's official." Dimitri added.

"No, she didn't chicken out." Beth was still mulling over what she'd seen.

"It wasn't that. She reacted to something."

"Well, she couldn't have seen anything" Dimitri added. "She must have heard something."

"Tariq, was anyone moved into Harry's old room?"

They all gathered around Tariq's desk as he sought to answer Lucas's question.

"Yes. A member of the Italian delegation, Alessandra Del Piero." Her picture came up on Tariq's screen, he raised his eyebrows, Dimitri looked appreciatively.

"Shit" said Lucas.

They all turned to him. "She's the mistress of the Internal Affairs Minister, amonst others. She has one hell of a reputation."

"So she was probably in there with someone when Ruth called by" said Beth, all things becoming painfully clearer.

"Shit" echoed Tariq. "No wonder Ruth was upset this morning."

* * *

Harry had had enough. He needed air. He was sick of feeling sorry for himself. He got up and made his way into the grounds. A brisk walk would do him good and he needed to get away.

* * *

Ruth was gazing at her book. She'd brought a book of Arabian poetry, well that was a huge mistake, a slasher movie would have been more suited to her mood.

She needed air. She needed to get out of the hotel and clear her mind of him, clear her mind of hotel rooms, hotel beds, tangled sheets.

She closed the door, leaving her phone, if they wanted her they'd have to come find her. For once she didn't care.

* * *

"What do we do?"

They'd all been sat quietly until Dimitri broke the silence.

Lucas had an answer "We hold off, give them a little time and see if they can sort it out for themselves"

Three pairs of eyes looked sceptically at him.

"Okay. Stupid"

There was a silence. It was Beth's turn.

"Well, I don't think we can talk to Harry about it, he'd probably chew us up before we'd even got past the name of Ruth…so it has to be Ruth. I'll phone her and say that the briefing notes were incomplete this morning, make something up about the French and then just remember to tell her Harry's security was under scrutiny and he was moved to a new room yesterday."

"Easy" said Dimitri.

"I doubt it" said Tariq.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, here comes chapter 4. Nearing the end now – or I better be cos I'm getting no real work done!**

**Keep forgetting – any names are made up and are not meant to represent anybody real and the characters all belong to Kudos.**

Chapter 4

"It's ringing out" said Beth.

Tariq looked at his screen, "It's in her room but she's not, she's in the hotel grounds."

"And Harry?" asked Lucas. They all turned to Tariq.

"He's….." Tariq smiled. "He's.. in the grounds."

"Thank god for that. Hopefully they'll manage to say more than two words to each other and figure out what's going on" Beth was relieved.

"I wouldn't hold your breath" said Lucas.

They were beautiful gardens, well manicured but with borders rich with natural flowers. It was cold but fresh and the air was welcome. He'd drunk too much whiskey. What the hell, who was there to reprimand him. No one. That said it all.

Ruth sat on a bench gazing out over the lake. It was lit. It looked beautiful. For a moment she was by the river, sat on a bench with Harry and all was right. But it wasn't right, it probably never would be again.

'That's it' he thought, 'she's said no, she's shown you in every way today that there's nothing between you anymore. Face it. Move on. And get a bloody grip!'

So he had moved on. Whatever last night was to him, he had made the move away from her. And why shouldn't he. She had given him no hope. Now she came to think about it she'd spent a lifetime with him offering snippets of hope, morsels of temptation and almost always retracted them whenever he made a move towards her. If she was him, she would have given up on her long ago.

Harry had paused, leaning against a large oak in the gardens, he was enjoying the peace and quiet, the simplicity.

"Hello" the voice was warm and attractive.

He turned, surprised and smiled.

"Hello to you. What are you doing out here?"

"I needed the air and the view out here is so much better" She looked at him as she finished her sentence.

She was so attractive. He smiled again.

Ruth stood and walked back to the house. She had analysed the situation and found herself unfair, harsh and unreasonable. Harry clearly wanted someone in his life, if it wasn't her then he would find someone else and she had to make peace with him soon so that might stand any chance of working together in the future without biting each other's heads off. She resolved that this is what she would do.

Alessandra Del Piero did look beautiful. She stood close to him, against the tree and he felt her hand brush up the underside of his jacket. It felt good to be touched.

"It's a little cold now, do you feel like coming in and getting warm with me?" He didn't need to be a mind reader like Ruth to know that his luck was in.

Ruth crossed the gardens with a sense of purpose. She heard dim voices and although she could see little past the lit path there was something that caught her eye. It was a white dress, there by the oak tree. She paused, she couldn't have said why.

She pressed herself against his chest. She smelt as wonderful as she looked. "So, Sir Harry. Shall we?" This woman didn't do subtle. It was refreshing.

To hear them had been one thing, but to see Harry outside in the moonlight pressed against what she could never hope to be, an attractive, clearly confident, Italian… she'd run out of decent turns of phrase, all the rest was hate, jealousy and abuse. She wanted to see no more, she turned away and fled.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

She determined not to cry. She determined to drink the whole mini bar. She determined to have a bath and if she slumped under the water in a drunken stupour who would give a damn.

She did cry. She couldn't drink the mini bar. And she wouldn't drown in the bath even if she felt a bit like it.

* * *

They were soft lips, they were welcoming, her breath was filled with the aroma of coffee and mint. It would be so easy. It could be so easy.

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

She looked at him. In fact she struggled to remember the last time a man had turned her down, oh yes, actually she did remember, he was gay.

"You are gay?" Her accent was bewitching.

"No. I am…." he paused, how to say it. "I am with someone".

"So am I" clearly that had never been a problem for her.

"I can't. As tempting as you are and, believe me, you are tempting, I just can't"

"You are not married?"

"No"

"It is only the ones not yet married who say 'no', in my experience. And often 'no' does not mean 'no'."

"Well, in this case 'no' really does mean 'no'. Goodnight." He leant forward, kissed her on the cheek and turned away.

She looked after him, he was more appealing now than at any moment before.

* * *

They had restricted CCTV coverage in the extensive gardens. Around and in the house it was a different matter.

"Here we go" said Tariq "the eagle has landed"

They watched Harry head for the stairs. They'd all hung around the Ops in the hope that something may be resolved soon. They'd watched in disappointment as Ruth entered the hotel alone, she looked lost and battered. Hopefully she would check her messages as soon as she got back to the room, then things would become clearer.

* * *

Ruth's phone rang, she'd seen the messages on it but ignored them. It was Harry calling. She had just got out of a very hot bath and poured herself something, she still wasn't sure what, out of another small bottle from the mini bar, she was doing better than expected. Then she did something most unRuthlike – she dropped her phone in the bath.

Harry stood outside his room, it was straight opposite Ruth's. She wasn't answering her phone, to be more accurate she wasn't answering him.

* * *

"Should we do something yet?" Dimitri was a little impatient, not having fully grasped the angst ridden saga that was Harry and Ruth.

"Soon, maybe" said Lucas.

"Room service"

"I haven't ordered anything"

"Your colleague Miss Arnold ordered you some food as she thought you had missed out on dinner"

Miss Arnold, Beth's current legend. That was nice of her. Now that Ruth thought about it she hadn't eaten since breakfast, since just before she heard Harry bragging about his lack of sleep.

She opened the door and the waiter smiled and brought in a tray, it smelt good, though she still felt like she had no appetite.

"There's one more tray" he said. She nodded as he turned back into the corridor. She topped up her tia maria, the latest thing to come out of the fridge.

She heard the door close and called thank you, whilst concentrating on getting every drop from the small bottle.

"My pleasure"

She spun, which was not a good idea after half a mini bar.

Harry, held the tray in his hand. He had a tentative smile on his face, hoping the response would not be too furious.

"How did you…"

"I gave the waiter £20 to lie to you and bring food"

"Only £20. Cheap date. Mind you, I guess you're used to that."

He didn't know what the barbed comment was about, it was sufficient that it was barbed.

"Ruth, please talk to me. I don't know why you're being like this"

"Why I'm being like this!"

He realised that maybe that hadn't been the thing to say.

She stopped herself. 'Don't give him the satisfaction' she determined.

A little calmer now, she asked "Isn't it time you were heading to bed now, Harry? You must be tired. I believe you didn't get much sleep last night."

He went to answer but didn't. He wasn't sure what the wise thing to say was. He had the feeling that whatever he said it would be a bad choice.

"What have I done, that's so wrong?"

Where should she start. "You broke my heart, you shagged that Italian whore, you made me drink that fucking Baileys and Sherry.' She didn't say it, she just looked at him and felt the tears come.

He saw the emotion swell in her, he saw her lip quiver, before she bit at it and he saw her eyes cloud. He did not dare move.

"I came to see you, to talk to you…. last night, late. You were" she hesitated "you were otherwise engaged."

"I was in the bar"

She laughed, it was an unsettling laugh.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Ruth?'

"Well, I guess we'll never know now, will we Harry. We move on from this, isn't that what you said?'

"I, did, but…. I" He stumbled to piece together what she was saying, what she was meaning, what she wanted.

"Get out." She had tears running freely down her cheeks and her look was bitter and hurt.

"Get out, Harry. Go live your life."

He still didn't move.

"GO." She screamed and lunged forward pushing towards the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"That didn't work then" said Tariq as he watched Harry burst back into the corridor and the door slam in his face.

* * *

He stood.

Indecisive, not a word often, if ever, used about Harry Pearce. He was about to turn away to his room when he heard Ruth sob. It was child like, one of those moments that you've almost forgotten to breathe and then you have to suck in the air through a veil of tears and a fog of hurt. It all made so little sense to him and did it even matter if he could make sense of it. Whatever was going on he couldn't leave her alone in there, breaking her heart, drinking tia maria. It just wasn't right.

He knocked firmly. "Ruth, please open the door"

"Leave me alone" she sobbed.

"Ruth, please. I'm not going anywhere"

"Well you're certainly not coming in here"

"Let me in"

"No"

"Please, don't be ridiculous."

"Me, ridiculous?"

"You know I can easily get your room opened "

"Just try it, Rambo" the tia maria had definitely been a step too far, she thought.

He was losing patience.

"Ruth, open up, or I will blow the bloody doors off."

"Who do you think you are?"

"I'm the sodding head of MI 5 and I can do what I want"

* * *

"Right that's it. That's enough" Said Lucas. He turned to Tariq "get down there and tell Harry what's going on, as he clearly has no idea and Ruth been Ruth has failed to give him any clue either."

"Why me?"

"You're the youngest"

"Am I? He looked around searching for something as Beth tried not to meet his gaze and Dimitri just grinned. "It's not youngest, surely it's the last in" He looked to Dimitri. "besides I always seem to walk in on them in the middle of something, I think he'd kill me and ask questions later."

Beth and Lucas looked at Dimitri "Fair point, off you go smiling boy". Dimitri wasn't actually smiling anymore.

* * *

Harry was still knocking. He'd reigned in his temper a little, but it was still on the edge. It had gone very quiet inside. He knew she was still crying.

"Ruth, please"

Faintly he heard her say "Harry", it was a small plaintive voice and it broke his heart.

Dimitri reached the top of the stairs. "Harry…"

"NOT NOW!" He screamed.

Ruth was right, Dimitri probably could wrestle sharks but he decided that would probably be eaiser than speaking to Harry right now.

"Ruth"

The lift doors opened and broke the moment. Alessandra stepped out. She saw Harry and momentarily a smile lit her face, but then she felt the chill in the air, saw Dimitri's pained expression and knew something was going on that she really didn't want to involve herself in. She nodded to Harry and turned for her room. Room 23. Harry caught a look at Dimitri who was pointing to her and the room. He didn't speak. "What's the blithering idiot doing" he thought.

Alessandra had nearly gone in, when she too caught Dimitri's eye and gave him the most definite come on. She shut the door. His old door. The one Ruth had stood at when she gave him the file.

He looked at Dimitri and sucked in a great gulp of air. It all started to piece together. For the first time in the last two days he had a feeling that all might be right.

MORE TO COME


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Harry listened at the door, he wanted to know where in the room she was, what she was doing.

"Dimitri." Harry beckoned him over with a single nod of the head.

"Open the door"

Dimitri knew that he wasn't about to give the right answer "I don't have the master key cards with me"

Harry had quietened considerably but in his stillness he was more fearsome than ever. "Open the door"

Dimitri stood back from it and launched a full bloodied kick.

Ruth jumped back, seeing Dimitri outside as the door swung open.

And then Harry walked in.

He seemed much less hesitant now. He seemed like Harry on the Grid.

He had her attention.

He flicked a dismissive hand in Dimitri's direction and with half a smile at Ruth Dimitri turned and left them.

"Ruth, you said you came to see me last night, yes?"

"Yes" she said hesitantly. She was now far too tired to argue. She felt as though all the emotion had been wrung from her.

"Why didn't you knock on my door?"

She said nothing.

"Why?"

How could she even begin to describe and verbalise what she had heard. She sniffed and wiped her hand across her nose. Harry thought it was the single most appealing gesture he had ever seen. He wanted to cross the room to her and take her in his arms, but this had to come first.

"Did you know I'd been in the bar that evening?"

She nodded.

"You saw me on the monitors?"

She nodded and looked away thinking of the woman.

"Did something stop you knocking, Ruth"

She nodded and this time he waited.

"I heard you."

Again he waited.

"I heard you both."

Harry smiled.

"Oh yes, it may be funny to you, Harry, but not…" she trailed off temporarily…."and then, coming into breakfast bragging about your lack of sleep. On a need to know basis, I sure as hell did not need to know that!"

She spoke still with the occasional sob in her voice.

"Ruth, sit down" he was gentle but firm, he thought she'd acquiesce and sit, but no, there was still some fight left in her, he shouldn't have doubted it.

"Don't tell me what to do. And why are you still in my bloody room. Don't think I don't know what you're doing, trying to talk me down."

"Ruth, do you want to know the reason why I didn't get much sleep?"

"No, I bloody well don't"

He tried not to smile but failed.

"It's the same reason I often get little sleep"

"What you do this all the time!" It was all coming out now, how little she really knew him. She turned to the mini bar.

"Ruth. It's you. "

Okay so the mini bar suddently seemed a little less interesting.

"I didn't sleep well last night because I spent it sat in a chair with a bottle of malt in the room straight opposite yours, and all I could think about was that the only place I wanted to be was behind this door with you."

"But…you're room.." and she just pointed down the hall.

"Lucas moved me, not long after you gave me the file."

"But that woman. You were outside with her,I saw you against the tree." She looked away as the hurt was rekindled.

This he hadn't known and he regretted that she had seen anything that might have upset her.

"Yes, you did. There was nothing to it. There could have been but there wasn't. Don't get me wrong I wasn't flattered"

She still refused to look at him.

"The thing is, I don't want her. I want you. Even if you shout at me, even if you seem to have a spectacular problem with hotel mini bars."

He saw her lip curl and knew she was trying not to smile.

"Ruth, I've had your door kicked in, I've announced to half the hotel that I'm the 'sodding head of MI5', what else have I got to do to make you realise how much I love you?"

He still had not dared to move. It didn't matter. She moved for him. She moved to him and shyly looked him the eye.

"Well, why didn't you just say so"

He laughed and the weight was lifted. He reached out for her and cradled her in his arms.

* * *

The team were gathered around Tariq's monitor. They were watching the corridor, all was quiet. They were hopeful but they couldn't stand like this forever. They said their goodnights and left Tariq to monitor the hotel and most specifically, that corridor.

* * *

Ruth was sat in the ops room. She had been a little late this morning, a little flustered and maybe a little quiet. They weren't sure and so they studiously said nothing.

Harry came in, chest out, animated and confident.

Lucas smiled "Sleep well, Harry?"

"Very well, thanks for you concern, Lucas" He was terse and clipped but as he walked beyond them he smiled broadly. The spooks in the room had all looked to the mirror and they had all caught the reflection of that smile. The spook in Harry knew it was there.

He didn't care.

He walked over to where Ruth was sat and very formally greeted her saying simply "Ruth."

She stood and equally formally said "Harry".

Four pairs of eyes looked on from behind monitors and files.

Ruth reached out to Harry's crisp blue tie and gently pulled him closer. She kissed him tenderly for a little longer than was necessary to prove her point. She knew they were all watching.

She didn't care.

No one looked away. They just smiled.

Tomorrow would be a good day on the Grid.

Tariq looked to Lucas and under his breath said "Thank god for that"

"Thank you Tariq. Do you want to be taken out and shot?" Harry had to have the last word.

T**hat's it. Reviews welcome. Sorry for any mistakes, it's late.**


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